Denver, CO – Jeff Francis earned his first win as a Rockie in nearly two years, tossing six shutout innings in a 10-2 Colorado triumph over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game set.
Francis (1-1) scattered three hits while walking one in a six-inning, 82-pitch outing.
"When you get someone that goes out and pitches in the manner that Jeff Francis did, you're going to put yourself in a favorable position on most nights," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said.
The ninth overall pick of the Rockies in 2002, the Canadian-born Francis was among the National League's most successful pitchers between 2005 and 2007, winning 14, 13 and 17 games over 99 starts.
But he won just four times in 2008 and was out of the majors for all of 2009 following left shoulder surgery. He was victorious just four more times in 2010 before becoming a free agent and signing in Kansas City prior to 2011.
Colorado has won four of the five games he's pitched in since his return to the Rocky Mountains on June 8. His last victory in a Rockies uniform came against the Chicago Cubs on July 30, 2010, when he spun six innings of two-run ball in a 17-2 victory.
Carlos Gonzalez registered a triple, two RBI and a pair of runs scored while Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario both smacked a two-run shots and scored twice for Colorado, which has won back-to-back games for the first time since June 3-4.
Jason Marquis (1-4) surrendered six runs -- five earned -- on six hits and a walk in six innings for the Padres, who have lost seven of their last 11 contests.
"He pitched better than his line indicated," Padres manager Bud Black said. "They bunched some hits there when they got their runs...The extra-base hits was sort of his undoing."
The Rockies plated a run apiece in both the first and third innings and pushed across four more in the sixth.
Gonzalez registered an RBI groundout in the opening frame and Marco Scutaro slapped an RBI single to center in the third for a 2-0 advantage.
Colorado put the game out of reach in the sixth. Gonzalez laced an RBI triple down the right field line and waltzed home on the play after second baseman Logan Forsythe's relay throw into third was airmailed into the stands. Tyler Colvin also added a run-scoring triple in the frame and scored on Everth Cabrera's error at shortstop to push the margin to 6-0.
Carlos Quentin got the Padres on the board with a long homer into left-center to lead off the seventh, while Will Venable's RBI single in the eighth made it 6-2 before Cuddyer and Rosario both cracked two-run blasts in the bottom half to conclude the scoring.
Game Notes
Francis moved to 6-13 lifetime against San Diego while Marquis fell to 5-5 in 15 career meetings against the Rockies, whom he won 15 games for in 2009...San Diego was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position while Colorado was 3- for-7.
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